Goal: Review your clothing budget and discover cost saving strategies. Update your budget to reflect this new spending plan.
Why it Matters: Embracing a thrifty approach to clothing ensures you have the financial freedom to invest in experiences that matter most to you.
Beyond the immediate financial benefits, saving money on clothing also aligns with sustainable fashion practices and can reduce the environmental impact of fast fashion.
Completion Time: ~10-mins
9 Strategies to Reduce Your Clothing Expenses: After reading this list, take a look at your spending and identify areas that you can improve.
Clothing
Shop at thrift stores or resale shops. When shopping for clothes, try focusing on actual cost instead of relative cost. For example, a shirt that normally costs $500 being sold for $75 is still more expensive than a $50 shirt being sold for $20.
Shop online. Many retail stores are struggling to compete with online options due to their added overhead. The main concern with shopping online is not knowing how the clothes will look. However, these stores usually have forgiving return policies if you’re not satisfied.
Wait for sales. Know what kind of clothes you want ahead of time and then wait for them to go on sale. However, sales are designed to make you buy more products, so be careful to only buy what you need.
Avoid designer labels. If you’re not willing to compromise on a designer label, try to stick to sales racks and consignment stores. You could also try shopping at thrift stores in more high class areas.
Don't purchase trending items. Instead, purchase versatile clothing that can be used with multiple outfits and seasons.
Know when to purchase. Buy clothes at the end of a calendar or fashion season for the best deal.
Laundry/Dry Cleaning
Purchase a dry cleaning kit. If your clothes just need a light cleaning, these kits can be a great substitute, and they’re usually significantly cheaper.
Wash clothes with cold water. This tip can help you reduce your energy costs when doing laundry.
Wash jeans/denim after multiple wears. Obviously, use your best judgment if you tend to get jeans dirty or they start to smell. Most manufactures actually recommend you spread out washes to minimize damage to the fibers.
Your Turn: Now it’s time to modify your clothing budget and free up more FI dollars to accelerate your plan. To view your spending and modify your budget in WizeFi, simply follow this tutorial.
Once you've reduced your clothing expenses, make sure to apply those extra financial independence dollars towards your 4-step plan.
In this example, you can go the 4-step plan and apply an extra $100 towards your Emergency Savings each month.
This one change has allowed this person to reach financial independence over 2 years sooner!
